I am a 31 year old, now single female, from the North Texas area. I got my first pup, an uncut blue female, during a relationship and we both quickly fell in love with the breed. We soon after added an uncut buckskin male to our family. They became my sanity in a very stressful life. We were still learning how to properly care for our pups when our female got pregnant. Soon after I was driving down the road and found a blue male walking down the street. This poor baby had been abused and after being unable to find a proper home for him we decided to take him in. My female had her pups and everyone was getting along nicely. We were extremely worried about finding the pups good homes and did everything we could to ensure they would be treated correctly. While we were still in this process, my ex accidentally left the adults outside together one afternoon. When I returned home I found my buckskin boy lifeless. It was one of the worst days of my life. My ex was a member of this forum at the time and the support we received from some members was really invaluable. We decided to keep one of the pups, a buckskin bluey. He is a spitting image of his daddy. We also could not find a home for another one of the pups so we kept her as well. My ex became very involved in the internet social circle of APBT's. We picked up a rescue dog and drove him to another state. I wrote an article for my college newspaper about this breed and the inaccurate stigma attached to them referencing people he spoke with online. About a year or so later we learned the blue male we rescued had heartworms and after treatment he was never the same. Things were very difficult for a while and against my wishes my ex had the blue male we brought in put down because he was showing aggression towards him. I think he saw the abuse that was occurring and acted out. My ex also took the blue female pup to be put down because he said she was too skiddish. She was terrified of everything. This is one of the most painful memories I have. I know that it may sound weak or anger you to hear this but I couldn't stop these things from happening. I tried. I am so thankful that none of the dogs I raised were ever physically abused by this person. After a long, long, process we are all finally safe. My dogs are more important to me than most people will ever be. They have stood by me and their strength gave me strength. I honestly do not know if I would have made it without them. They deserved a stable environment and I have had to fight very very hard to make sure they stayed with me. I needed to share that because I will not be sharing pictures or names of my dogs. Although I do not think that this person is on this forum any longer I just cannot risk it. Needless to say, they saved my life and I will do anything and everything I can to keep them safe, happy and healthy. The reason I want to be a part of this forum is because there is information that I know I can find here that I no longer have access to and I want to provide the best for my little heroes. I would like to ask that if you do allow me to join, could you please delete this post or can I? After everything these dogs have done for me, they have changed the opinion of my entire family and friends. They are courageous and loyal and so loving. I will never own another breed of dog. So, at this point, I have my female who is now 7 and my male who is 6 and a sweet silver tabby cat. I work in sales, write in my spare time and finally can say that I truly love my life.

Hi Annabella,I'm going to approve your post so that you have access to the rest of the forum. Unfortunately we do not delete posts without warrant-your situation does not warrant deletion. Additionally we require an intro post so that members have a little background on other posters. Luckily the threads in our intro section get moved down to the bottom (and eventually off of the first screen) pretty quickly because we often have new members posting intros.